April 16, 2020

I have to laugh at times... many of the people I know think that because I love to cook, and with my background, I cook elaborate meals all the time...

During these days of 'stay at home isolation' the comment I hear the most from friends is ' You must be cooking up a storm!'...

No...I'm not.

I still cook, mostly from scratch...but our meals are much simpler and less time consuming to prepare...after all, I am also getting older and really don't want to spend all my time in the kitchen.

I love leftovers, because they represent a challenge. I don't like to just 're-heat repeat'... I like to come up with 'new meals out of old'

Yesterday the challenge was met!

We had to go into town for the last session in the last round of chemo treatments for my son (until next month)...while in town, we were to meet friends afterwards at a pre-determined location so that we could observe all the new 'social distancing' safety measures we have learned... We parked our vehicles a certain distance apart...we all wore masks...we 'air hugged and kissed' from at least 6 feet apart...(I really miss the actual hugs!) and our friends had brought us a box of fried chicken! It was still hot, and delicious. After our friends left, Anthony and I each ate a piece while sitting under the shade of a lovely tree, looking towards an expanse of park, but neither of us could eat it all...so we brought the leftovers home and I decided to use them for our dinner.

I took the meat off the bones and shredded it over flour tortillas...added some sliced green garden onions (green included), thin slices of deli cut Havarti cheese and fresh baby spinach... rolled them up, placed them in a glass baking dish, smothered it with pasta sauce from a jar, sprinkled with a commercial shredded cheese mix of Monterey Jack, Asadero, Quesadilla Queso, and Mild Cheddar, placed the dish in the oven and barely 15 minutes later, had a meal of delicious bubbling chicken enchiladas!

BTW, the Havarti cheese rolled inside with the rest of the filling might not be 'culturally correct' for a South of the Border inspired dish, but it was perfect for this.

April 05, 2020

We had a late breakfast today, so we skipped lunch and had an early dinner

Our dinner last evening was breakfast of grits, eggs and bacon..when I make grits, I always make double, so that I can have leftovers..but I usually pour the leftovers in bowls that have flat bottoms and straight sides,. When I unmold them, they look like thick discs... Dinner tonight was one of my versions of Shrimp & Grits... using the discs as base..

Cooked grits

Fresh asparagus spears

Shrimp

Butter, bacon grease, or avocado oil

Dry Sherry

Greek yogurt

Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce

Fresh flat leaf parsley

Make your grits as you would usually...save some and mold for another meal

When disc is cold and firm, slide from mold and heat in skillet...this time I used bacon grease left over from last night to heat the disc, on both sides.

Then I cooked some fresh asparagus spear in the same bacon great until slightly al dente.

After taking the asparagus out of the pan, I add dry sherry to deglaze pan, then added a scoop of plain Greek yogurt, a couple of tablespoons of Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce. Mixed well and added the shrimp. Cooked shrimp just enough to turn pink. they were so nice they popped when you bit into them/